Thus Spain, no longer able to make war, wove plots.
She had cause for fear, inasmuch as the power of the house
of Austria, master of so many countries and so firmly lean-
ing on Catholic Europe, was the constant preoccupation of
Henry IV. Its destruction was his dream, but this dream
was ennobled by its end the establishment in Europe of a
political system which should place under the guarantee of
all the powers the independence of religions and of nation-
alities. He wished to drive out the house of Austria from
the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany; to make of Hungary,
increased by the Austrian provinces, a powerful kingdom
capable of holding its own against the Ottomans even if it did
not succeed in relegating them to Asia; to give Lombardy
to the Duke of Savoy, Sicily to Venice; of the peninsular
portion of Italy to constitute a single state with the Pope as
head; of Genoa and Florence with the neighboring petty
lordships to form a republic and another in the Netherlands;
to extend the Swiss Confederation to the Tyrol, and to leave
Germany an elective empire. Europe, then, with its six
hereditary kingdoms, France, Spain, England, Sweden,
Denmark, and Lombardy; with its five elective states,
Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, the empire, and the papacy;
with its four republics, Venice, Genoa and Florence, Swit-
zerland, and the Netherlands, would have itself composed
a great republic, having a supreme council of deputies from
all the states, which would have been charged with pre-
venting injustice and war. The reign of right would have
252 THE CATHOLIC RESTORATION. [BOOK IV.
replaced that of force. This project was the application of
a great principle, respect of nationalities; in proof of the dis-
interestedness of his views Henry in this sublime readjustment
of Europe asked nothing for France, nothing at least which
it did not appear legitimate to accord. "I desire," said he,
"that the Spanish language belong to the Spaniard, the
German to the German, but all that is French ought to be
mine." And he had cast his eyes upon Savoy, which its
duke would quit when taking Lombardy, upon Lorraine,
whose heiress he wished to betroth to the dauphin, upon
Belgium and Franche-Comte, which had no reason for
belonging to Spain.
Without doubt he did not hope to accomplish all these
things; but to execute a part of them he counted upon the
alliance with England, whose queen, Elizabeth, till her death
(1603) lived in the best relations with France; upon the
Duke of Savoy, to whom he offered 15,000 men under the
Constable Lesdiguieres, already encamped in Dauphine,
asking him in return nothing more than to carve out for
himself a kingdom in Spanish Lombardy; upon the Protes-
tants of the Netherlands, whom he supported against the
Spaniards; upon those of Germany, who were then forming
the Evangelical Union, and of which one of the principal
chiefs, Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, came to confer with him.
He had understandings even among the Moorish popula-
tions of Spain, then under the terror of the Inquisition.
The Duke of Cleves and Juliers had just died, "leaving
everybody his heir." Protestants and Catholics already
disputed the rich succession; it was a pretext to interfere
and begin the war which the increasing hate of the t\vo
religious parties in the empire rendered inevitable. The
most formidable preparations were made. Forty thousand
men with a powerful artillery were advancing toward the
frontiers of Champagne when the hero whom all were await-
ing was assassinated (May 14, 1610) by the fanatic Ravaillac.
Without loving the arts like Francis I., Henry II., and
Charles IX., Henry IV. comprehended how much splendor
they cast upon a reign. He added two pavilions to the
Tuileries, and wished to prolong the grand gallery of the
Louvre as far as the latter chateau, thus passing across the
ramparts of the city so as not to find himself on some day
of riot shut up in his palace as Henry III. had almost been.
He had not the time to finish that magnificent undertak-
CHAP. XVI.] CONSEQUENCES OF THE WARS. 253
ing. His architect,* Androuet Ducerceau, was for once suffi-
ciently well inspired to follow the original plans. He also
terminated the Pont Neuf, commenced under Henry III.,
and the facade of the city hall (Hotel de Ville), whose
foundations had been laid under Francis I. In 1604 was
laid the first stone of the Place Royale, where appears the
intermixture of brick, stone, and slate, restored style of the
old Italian architecture. Already the heavy and low arcade
replaced the square doors with rounded angles of the castles
of the Renaissance; the stone cross deserted the double
casements, which opened empty and wide, cold in aspect,
with their great glass windows. In the arts the Renaissance
was already in decline ; but a new era was about to com-
mence in letters. Montaigne died three years after the
accession of Henry IV., and Malherbe, the "pensioner of
the king," was creating the style and the poetic language
which Corneille, Racine, and Boileau were to employ.
BOOK V.
THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE UNDER
LOUIS XIII. AND LOUIS XIV. (1610-1715).
CHAPTER XVII.
LOUIS XIII. AND RICHELIEU INTERNAL PACIFICA-
TION (1610-43).
The Minority of Louis XIII. and the Regency of Marie de Medici (1610-
17). Richelieu Humbles the Protestants and the High Nobility
(1624-42).
WHILE the royal power in England was receiving heavy
blows, in France it was maintaining its supremacy, and
The minority thanks to the genius of Richelieu (1624-42)
of Louis XIIL, was becoming wholly absolute. But the min-
of Mar!f en de istry of the cardinal had been preceded by
Medici (1610-17). fourteen years of troubles and civil wars
which almost endangered the work of Henry IV. His son
and successor, Louis XIIL, was only nine years of age. It
was necessary to make provision for the government during
the minority of this child. According to precedents the
regency belonged to the mother of the king: Blanche of
Castile had ruled during the minority of Louis IX. ; Catherine
de Medici during that of Charles IX. Marie de Medici,
who had always remained without influence and almost a
foreigner, thought it necessary to give some sort of legal sanc-
tion to her authority. She addressed herself to the parlia-
ment of Paris. The king had died May 14; on the follow-
ing day Parliament in consequence of the threatening
summons of the Duke of Epernon conferred the regency
upon Marie de Medici (1610). Faint-hearted and narrow-
minded, the widow of Henry IV. was wholly incompetent
255
256 THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE. [BOOK V.
to continue the work which that great king had undertaken;
abroad, after a short period of hesitation which gained
the Protestants in Germany the aid of a French army to
take Juliers, she abandoned all the projects of her husband;
at home she sent the upright Sully back to his own estates,
and bestowed all her favor upon Concini, a Florentine
adventurer, who became Marquis of Ancre, and afterward
Marshal of France. In a few years he amassed a fortune
of 8,000,000 francs.
By his energy, and especially by his skill, Henry IV. had
reduced the nobles to obedience. He held himself above
the factions in order to dominate them. After his death
they reappeared, each with its interests and passions. The
Protestants were displeased on account of Sully's disgrace;
but, while taking at Saumur measures for defense, they
said: "We have all the liberty of conscience we can
desire, and we are not willing to abandon our wives and
homes at the instigation of a few factionists." For the
moment, therefore, they allowed the leaders of the aristoc-
racy Conde, the two Vendomes, Longueville, Mayenne,
and the intriguing Duke of Bouillon to take up arms against
the court, and to publish manifestoes in which they de-
manded the alleviation of the sufferings of the people. This
movement, aimless and groundless, had no other cause than
the weakness of the government. Concini served as a pre-
text. He was accepted by the nobles from the time that he
paid for their adhesion. By the treaty of St. Menehould
he gave money and honors to all. The Prince of Conde re-
ceived 450,000 francs in cash; the Duke of Mayenne 300,000
francs toward his marriage; M. de Longueville a pension of
100,000 francs. The savings which Henry IV. had left in
the vaults of the Bastille were encroached upon. From
3,000,000 francs, the total amount of pensions rose to
6,000,000 francs. But the court that year (1614) did not
pay the stockholders of the townhall.
To color their rebellion and to disguise their cupidity
the nobles had demanded the convocation of the States
General. The assembly convened five months after the
peace of St. Menehould (May 27, 1614). The third estate
was remarkable for its comprehension of the needs of the
country and found in Robert Miron an eloquent inter-
preter. Uniting patriotism to common sense and love of
order, the third estate desired that the inviolability of the
CHAP. XVII.J LOUIS XIII. AND RICHELIEU. 257
royal person and the independence of the crown relative to
the Holy See should be declared; it demanded at the same
time publicity in financial matters, the abolition of the pen-
sions which the treasury was paying to the other two orders,
a more just distribution of public taxes among the people,
the extension of the villain tax to the privileged orders, the
equality of all before the law, liberty of commerce and in-
dustry, and the periodic convocation of the States General.
The first proposition was rejected as rash; the second "be-
cause the finances are the nerves of the state, and because
the nerves are concealed under the skin;" the others as so
many attacks upon the nobility and the clergy. In vain
Robert Miron brought before the king the picture of the
public misery and the means of remedy. "If your Majesty
does not provide," he said, "it is to be feared lest despair
reveal to the people that the soldier is nothing but a peasant
in arms, and lest, when the vine dresser shall have taken up
the arquebuse, he become the hammer instead of the anvil."
But the nobility displayed the most haughty disposition;
heated and deplorable altercations took place between the
orders. The court took advantage of these rivalries to con-
cede nothing, and after having wearied the deputies by
intentional delays, put forward the pretext that the council
chamber was needed to give a ballet, and the assembly room
was closed (March 24, 1615). The deputies, however, had
the instinct rather than the consciousness of their role. No
protest was brought forward. This was the last convoca-
tion of the States General before that of 1789.
The Prince of Conde had found his first revolt too prof-
itable not to attempt a second (1616). By the treaty of Lou-
dun he succeeded in obtaining for himself 1,500,000 francs,
for his friends proportional sums. All the court thronged
around him; for an instant he seemed the real king of
France. Concini was driven to extremities; but, following
the advice given him some time before by Richelieu, then
Bishop of Lufon and chaplain of the queen, he finally had
the courage to order the committal of the prince to the
Bastille. This measure provoked a revolt on the part of the
nobles: against them he opposed three armies; but the king
took sides with the malcontents, and conspired with his own
favorite, Albert de Luynes, against the favorite of his
mother.
This newcomer, already thirty-eight years old, was the
258 THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE. [BOOK V.
son of an officer of fortune; by his skill in snaring shrikes
he had won the good graces of the prince, who made him
his confidant; de Luynes represented to the king that he
was old enough to reign, and that it was disgraceful for him
at the age of fifteen to allow himself to be guided as a
child. Louis summoned Vitry, the captain of the guards,
and ordered him to arrest the Marshal of Ancre, charg-
ing him to kill the marshal if he made any opposition.
Vitry hastened to obey, and as Concini was drawing his
sword to surrender it he stretched him dead with his
pistol. The body of the unfortunate served the infuri-
ated populace as a plaything. His wife, Leonora Galigai,
was accused of sorcery. She was asked by what witch-
craft she had obtained such power over the queen
mother. "By the ascendency," she replied, "that a
superior mind has over a weak person!" She was none the
less sentenced to death at the stake (1617).
Louis XIII. thought he had escaped from guardianship;
but de Luynes replaced Concini. Marie de Medici with the
assistance of the lords, against whom she had but just now
been contending, tried to overthrow him, and after a short
war found herself fortunate in obtaining the government of
Angers (1619). A second attempt, made the following
year, succeeded no better. However, Richelieu, her chief
chaplain, obtained the confirmation of the preceding treaty
(1620).
The Protestants had taken no part in any of these in-
trigues, thanks to the patriotic counsels of Duplessis Mornay
and to the prudence of Sully. But by the side of these
illustrious leaders there arose the rival influence of a young
man as brave as he was eloquent and energetic, the Duke
of Rohan. The re-establishment of the Catholic religion
at Beam, and more especially the injunction laid upon the
Reformed Bearnese to surrender the ecclesiastical property
which they had seized, excited the indignation of the
Huguenot party. The opinion of Sully and Mornay was
disregarded and in the assembly of La Rochelle a general
uprising in arms was declared. The Protestants dreamed
of founding in the marshes of the Aunis a French Hol-
land, of which La Rochelle should be the Amsterdam.
Their 806 churches formed 16 provinces. Upon the re-
fusal of the Duke of Bouillon, Rohan obtained the supreme
command.
CHAP. XVII.] LOUIS XIII. AND RICHELIEU. 259
De Luynes, who had been appointed constable, laid siege
to Montauban; but he failed in this attempt, and was
carried off by a malignant fever (1621). The following
year the king succeeded in driving out Soubise from the
island of Re and in capturing St. Foi. The Protestants
sued for peace. The treaty of Montpellier, comfirmative of
the edict of Nantes, granted them La Rochelle and Mon-
tauban as cities of safety, but forbade their holding any
political assembly without the consent of the king (1622).
Marie de Medici had regained her former influence; she
had admitted to the ministry her habitual counselor, the
Richelieu Bishop of Lucon, for whom she had obtained
humbles the m 1622 a cardinal's hat. As soon as he
Protestants and , , .. , .. , .. , .
the high nobii- appeared at the council he eclipsed all his
ity (1624-42.). colleagues. His will no more recognized
obstacles than did his mind limits. Eager for power, but
in order to accomplish grand things, he immediately ob-
tained an extraordinary influence ever the king. Louis
XIII. possessed enough intelligence to conceive the most
lofty policy, enough virtue to love the good, but too much
indolence to carry it into execution. He left Richelieu to
his own devices, and with the exception of a few moments
of weakness supported him for eighteen years against the
hatred of the courtiers.
Richelieu's plan was extensive but simple: at home to
humble the high nobility and to impose upon all the law of
the king; to reduce the Protestants to such a condition that
they would form only a dissenting religious community;
abroad to overthrow the preponderance of the house of
Austria. This was the triple policy which he pursued dur-
ing his glorious ministry.
At first Richelieu advanced too far. He wished to carry
out all his schemes at once. He attacked the Spaniards and
the Protestants. Valtellina is a little valley which estab-
lished communication between the Milanais, a possession of
the Spanish branch, and the Tyrol, the property of the Ger-
man branch of the house of Austria. The inhabitants, sub-
jects of the Protestant republic of the Grisons, were of the
Catholic faith. They had revolted at the instigation of the
court of Madrid, which had caused several forts to be built
within their boundaries for the professed purpose of protect-
ing them against the heretics. The Grisons protested, and
the Pope was chosen mediator. He hesitated a long time, and
260 THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE. [BOOK V.
was on the point of deciding in favor of the Spaniards when
Richelieu entered upon office. He wrote immediately to the
French ambassador at Rome: "The king has changed his
ministry, and the ministry its maxim; an army will be sent
into Valtellina, which will render the Pope less undecided
and the Spaniards more tractable." In fact the Marquis
of Cceuvres arrived with 8000 men and restored Valtellina
to the Orisons (1624).
At the same time Richelieu, supposing that he had
deprived the Protestants of the support of England by the
marriage of Henrietta of France to Charles I., directed a
vigorous attack against them ; the fleet of La Rochelle was
destroyed. But the cardinal was arrested in the midst of
his success by a plot which aimed at nothing less than the
assassination of the prime minister, perhaps even at the
deposition of the king. Influenced by some courtiers,
Gaston, the heir presumptive to the crown, refused to
marry Mile, de Montpensier: the enemies of Richelieu
would have preferred that the prince should establish for
himself a powerful alliance outside of France. The im-
prisonment of the Marshal of Ornano made no more
impression upon the court than did the admonitions of the
cardinal. Richelieu, therefore, granted peace to the
Huguenots and signed with Spain the treaty of Monon
(1626), for the purpose of leaving no means of support for
the intriguers; then caused the arrest of Chalais. A com-
mission condemned him and he was beheaded (1626). This
was giving a terrible lesson to the nobles. They received
a second; two noblemen of the highest rank, Bouteville-
Montmorency and the Marquis of Beuvron, were sent to the
scaffold for violating the edict against duels. "It is
unjust," Richelieu remarked to the king, "to desire to set
an example by the punishment of men of mean rank, who
are trees casting no shadow at all; even as it is very neces-
sary to treat well the nobles who act well, it is they also
who must he held under discipline." But if the cardinal
was right in punishing the guilty, still it is a source of
regret that sometimes, like Louis XL, he gave to justice the
appearance of vengeance, and made the scaffold an instru-
ment of government (1627).
By these measures Richelieu had regained his freedom
of action, and he made use of it to prepare a decisive attack
against the Reformers. He reorganized the army, the navy,
CHAP. XVII.] LOUIS XIII. AND RICHELIEU. 261
and the finances; he abolished the office of constable after
the death of Lesdiguieres, bought for 1,000,000 francs that
of high admiral from Montmorency, and by an assembly of
notables caused vigorous measures to be taken against the
farmers of the revenue who had not rendered their accounts
for five years. At the same time he made an alliance with
the Dutch, who lent him some vessels against Genoa; these
he employed in attacking La Rochelle.
Charles I. could not allow that town to fall without mak-
ing some effort in its behalf. He sent his favorite, Bucking-
ham, with a fleet. The English landed on the island of Re;
but they were repulsed by Toiras and Schomberg. The
royal army invested La Rochelle by land. To isolate the
city from the sea and to prevent the approach of English
aid Richelieu caused an immense embankment to be con-
structed and lined it with cannon. By his vigilance and
firmness he rendered futile the ill will of the generals and
of the nobles. "We shall be insane enough," exclaimed
Bassompierre, "to take La Rochelle."
The defense was heroic; but the English fleet, which
appeared twice before the embankment, either did not dare
or was not strong enough to break through. La Rochelle
capitulated (1628). Of 30,000 inhabitants there remained
5000.
The Duke of Rohan, who was making a feeble struggle in
Languedoc against forces far superior to his own, was
obliged to disband his army. The peace of Alais, or the
edict of grace, allowed the Protestants the civil securities
and the religious freedom which the edict of Nantes had
given them ; but their fortified places were dismantled.
They ceased to form a state in the state (1629).
The political unity of France was re-established and all
trace of the religious wars effaced. The enemies of Riche-
lieu were only all the more bent upon destroying him.
Marie de Medici was astonished to find in her former chap-
lain a grave statesman, and not a servile tool. She was on
the point of extorting from the sick king an order of exile.
The cardinal was about to depart when La Valette and St.
Simon, the father of the celebrated writer, showed him that
as yet all was not lost. He had an interview with the king:
a few hours of conversation sufficed to reinstate him with
all his former influence. Marie de Medici, who was already
receiving the compliments of the court, was undeceived by
262 THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE. [BOOK V.
the desertion of those around her. This was called "the
day of the dupes" (1630). It caused victims also; the two
Marillacs, the one Keeper of the Seals, the other Marshal of
France, were impeached by the queen mother. The latter,
accused of bribery, was tried by a criminal commission, in
the palace even of Richelieu at Ruel, condemned, and
executed. His brother died in a fortress. As for Marie de
Medici, the castle of Compiegne was chosen for her im-
prisonment; she escaped six months afterward and retired
to Brussels (1631).
Gaston had left the court, had found refuge in the castle
of the Duke of Lorraine, and had married the sister of that
foreign prince. Forced to flee for shelter to Belgium, he
succeeded in gaining over the Duke of Montmorency,
Governor of Languedoc, and mustered a few thousand
adventurers. But he found no assistance in his march.
The towns closed their gates against him. He rejoined
Montmorency, however, at Languedoc, and found himself
then at the head of a small army. When the royal troops
appeared Montmorency attacked with fury, and was cap-
tured in spite of a brave resistance. Gaston made no
attempt to rescue him. The last scion of the elder branch
of the house of Montmorency, contemporaneous with the
first Capetians, died upon the scaffold (1632). The Duke
of Lorraine paid the expenses of the war. Louis XIII.
occupied his duchy with troops (1633), and it remained
in the hands of France until the close of the century.
This execution inspired fear among the nobles, but did
not prevent new conspiracies. In spite of his cowardice
Gaston still found accomplices; but his favorite, Puy-
laurens, was cast into the Bastille and there died (1635).
Three years later the birth of a dauphin, who became
Louis XIV., took away from Gaston the title and rank of
heir to the throne (1638). The humiliation inflicted upon
the Duke of Epernon, the proudest of the great lords, and
the condemnation to death of the Duke of Valetta for a
military blunder, made it clear to all that a new era had
come, that of military obedience. However, the Count of
Soissons, of the house of Conde, still endeavored to over-
throw the dreaded cardinal; victor at Marf6e, he was slain
in the battle (1641).
Richelieu had to struggle till the end of his life. The
young Cinq-Mars, for whom he had obtained an office near
CHAP. XVII.] LOUIS XIII. AND RICHELIEU. 263
the person of the king, formed a plot for his ruin. Louis
XIII. himself joined the conspiracy. But Cinq-Mars
destroyed himself by signing a treaty of alliance with Count
Olivarez, the real ruler of Spain. This intrigue ended as
all the others, in punishments; Cinq-Mars was beheaded,
also his friend de Thou (1642), and the Duke of Bouillon,
his fellow-conspirator, was obliged to surrender to the king
his two strongholds, Sedan and Raucourt.
As early as 1626 Richelieu had ordered the demolition
of such feudal fortresses as could not serve for frontier
defenses. He had also abolished the important military
offices of constable and of high admiral, because they gave
too much power to those who were invested with them;
finally, to be master everywhere, he had imposed silence
upon Parliament regarding public matters, and had avoided
convening the States General.
Thus Richelieu had caused everything to bend under his
control ! The people were plunged from one danger into